There’s a sweet little blog put up by a homeschooling mother of 9! that has some homemade healthy salad dressings that are worth trying. She’s @ The Common Room. A detail I like about her recipes is that she makes them flexible. Obviously, she has had to just make do at times with what she’s had on hand in her home. Hey, I respect stuff like that in Moms! The recipes are for Buttermilk dressing, Sweet and Sour salad dressing, Basic Tofu Salad dressing and Russian salad dressing:

Buttermilk Dressing
1/3 cup buttermilk (which we never have. Sometimes I have powdered buttermilk on hand for baking. Other times I use a mixture of plain yogurt and milk)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (we’ve been making our own. The Equuschick has proven to be quite a dab hand at this)
2 teaspoons mustard, brown, Dijon, or honey
two or three shakes of the salt shaker
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of pepper
1/4 teaspoon dillweed
Put all ingredients in:
a jar with a tight lid and shake well
OR the blender and blend for a few seconds
OR a bowl and whisk well
Chill, shake or whisk again just before serving
This only makes half a cup, so we need to triple it.
Sweet and Sour Dressing
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons of sugar (or one T of honey)
1/2 tsp dry mustard or one squirt of yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt to taste
1/2 cup salad oil (olive, safflower, or ?)
Combine everything but the oil and let stand, blending flavors for at least 1/4 of an hour. Add oil, shake, whisk, blend, or otherwise briskly combine until well blended. Chill and reshake when ready to serve.
This makes 3/4 cup
Basic Tofu Salad Dressing
this is creamy and similar to mayonnaise, so for salad you would add herbs and spices, perhaps blend it in the blender with a peeled cucumber for a Green Goddess type of dressing.
Combine in your blender (you can whisk this, it just takes more wrist strength)
1/2 pound of soft tofu
1/4 cup oil of your choice
1 Tablespoon lemon juic
1/2 Tablespoon of honey
a squirt of mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider or balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
This makes about 1 1/2 cups
Tofu Curry Dressing for a Chicken and Grape or Oriental Salad
Blend well:
1/2 cup smooth tofu
1/4 cup oil (include a spoonful or two of sesame oil for flavor)
2 Tablespoons of vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder- adjusted for taste. we prefer more, and we like the mild curry
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
dash of ginger (optional)
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Russian Salad Dressing
Bascially you want a combination of yogurt, mayonaisse, and ketchup (I know- it sound dreadful, doesn’t it?). Add a dash of Worcestershire, a touch of horseradish, a bit of minced onion, perhaps a dash of lemon juice- adjust it all until it tastes right to you. I like it tangier, so add a spoonful of vinegar or two.
I’m not including a recipe for Italian salad dressing because that’s so easy I assume everybody already knows how to make it. I’m not including a recipe for bleu cheese dressing because the idea here is to be frugal, and buying the bleu cheese you need for bleu cheese dressing is not frugal.